How to Play

Pandemic: Rising Tide

2-5 players 45-45 min 7.5 Board Game Geek Rating

Players collaborate to save the Netherlands from flooding during the Industrial Age by constructing four strategic hydraulic structures. Water cubes represent rising levels that constantly threaten regions as old containment systems fail. Teams must predict water flow patterns, strategically build dikes, and pump water from dangerous areas to prevent catastrophic spillage while racing to complete their vital construction projects.

Published 2017

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the board and components

Put the board within reach of all players, place 5 ports, 5 pumping stations, and 36 water cubes nearby, and place the 4 hydraulic structure tokens on the board as shown

Place initial dikes

Put 1 dike on the board in each of the red dike locations, using all 50 dikes (two locations begin with 2 dikes)

Remove variant components

Return all 12 Objective cards, 36 population cubes, and the Population Loss card to the box unless playing the variant

Set the sea level

Place the Sea Level marker on the lowest "2" space of the Sea Level track

Add initial sea water

Place 2 water cubes in both the Noordzee and Zuiderzee

Add Zuiderzee region water

Place 1 cube in Wieringermeer, 2 cubes in Markerwaard, 2 cubes in Flevoland, and 2 cubes in Noordoostpolder

Degrade regions (first draw)

Shuffle Dike Failure cards, flip 3 cards, and degrade each matching region 3 times by removing dikes or adding water cubes if no dikes remain (max 3 cubes per region during setup)

Degrade regions (second draw)

Flip 3 more Dike Failure cards and degrade each region 2 times

Degrade regions (third draw)

Flip 3 more Dike Failure cards and degrade each region 1 time

Create Dike Failure deck

Place the 9 drawn cards faceup in the discard pile; remaining cards form the Dike Failure deck

Distribute role cards

Give each player a Reference card, deal 1 shuffled Role card faceup to each player with matching pawn, and place all pawns in Delfland

Prepare Event cards

Shuffle Event cards facedown, set aside the number shown in the table (2 players: 4 events, 3 players: 5 events, 4 players: 6 events, 5 players: 8 events), add to Region cards, return unused Events to box

Deal starting hands

Shuffle Player cards (Regions and Events), deal faceup to players (2 players: 4 cards, 3 players: 3 cards, 4-5 players: 2 cards)

Determine first player

The player with the Region card listing the shortest "Primary Defense Line" goes first

Prepare Player deck with Storms

Choose difficulty (6 Storm cards for Introductory, 7 for Standard, 8 for Heroic), divide remaining Player cards into equal facedown piles matching number of Storm cards, shuffle 1 Storm card into each pile, stack piles with smaller ones on bottom

Place Reminder token

Set it next to the Player deck to later remind players of the Operate Pumps step

Resolve initial water flow

Check regions with 3 cubes and add cubes to adjacent unprotected low-elevation regions until they have at least 2 cubes; then check regions with 2 cubes and add cubes until adjacent regions have at least 1 cube (water never flows across dikes or into high-elevation regions)

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Perform up to 4 actions

Select any combination of actions, repeating the same action multiple times if desired

Drive/Ferry

Move to an adjacent low- or high-elevation region

Sail

Discard a Region card to move to the region named on that card

Charter Boat

Discard a Region card matching your current region to move to any region on the board

Return to Port

Move to any region containing a port (you don't need to be at a port to use this)

Pump

Remove 1 water cube from your region and place it in the supply

Build Dike

Place a dike from the supply on a dike location bordering your region, but only if your region has no water cubes; if all dikes are in use, move one from another region

Build Pumping Station

Discard a Region card matching your current region to place a pumping station there; if all are in use, move one from another region (max 1 per region)

Build Port

Discard a Region card matching your current region to place a port there; if all are in use, move one from another region (max 1 per region)

Share Resources

Give a Region card matching your current region to another player there, or take such a card from them (both players must agree and be in the same region)

Build Hydraulic Structure

At a region with a hydraulic structure site, discard 5 Region cards matching that region's color to build the structure

Operate Pumps

For each pumping station in a region with at least 1 water cube, remove 1 water cube from any low-elevation region traceable through a path of regions containing water cubes (paths cannot cross seas or dikes)

Draw 2 Player cards

Take the top 2 cards from the Player deck together

Resolve Storm cards immediately

When drawn, move Sea Level marker up 1 space, add cubes to seas if level reaches 3 or 4, draw bottom Dike Failure card and degrade that region 3 times, then shuffle all Dike Failure discards and place on top of the deck; do not draw replacement cards

Observe hand limit

If you have more than 7 cards after resolving Storms, discard or play Events until you have 7

Dikes Fail step

Flip Dike Failure cards from the top of the deck equal to the current sea level, degrading each region 1 time (remove a dike, or add 1 water cube if no dikes)

Handle floods during Dikes Fail

If a region already has 3 cubes and no dikes when its card is drawn, a flood occurs: add 1 cube to each adjacent unprotected low-elevation region; if any of those also have 3 cubes, chain reaction floods occur (do not add to regions that already flooded this card)

Water Flows step

Check all regions: seas with 4 cubes flow to adjacent regions until they have 3 cubes; regions with 3 cubes flow until adjacent regions have 2 cubes; regions with 2 cubes flow until adjacent regions have 1 cube (water never crosses dikes or enters high-elevation regions)

Play Event cards

Any player may play Events at any time during any turn without using an action; Events cannot be played between drawing and resolving a card